GSPIA’s Matthew B. Ridgway Center presents a scholar discussion on current and past security challenges in Central America. Five esteemed experts present their field experience and research on topics ranging from transnational criminal organizations to local gangs in the region. Following the individual presentations, the experts come together for a panel discussion that draws on their wide-ranging knowledge. Join us for this thought provoking and engaging set of discussions.

Guest Speakers: Douglas Farah, President, IBI Consultants and Senior Associate, Americas Program — CSIS; Steven Dudley, Co-Director of InSight Crime; Thomas Bruneau, Vice President of Global Academic Professionals; Juan Ricardo Gómez Hecht, Professor and Advisor of Public Security at the College of High Strategic Studies of El Salvador Armed Forces; Juan Carlos Garón, Global Fellow at Woodrow Wilson Center and a researcher for the United Nations Development Program.

This event is sponsored by the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh and by the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh.

GSPIA’s Matthew B. Ridgway Center presents a scholar discussion on current and past security challenges in Central America. Five esteemed experts present their field experience and research on topics ranging from transnational criminal organizations to local gangs in the region. Following the individual presentations, the experts come together for a panel discussion that draws on their wide-ranging knowledge. Join us for this thought provoking and engaging set of discussions.

Guest Speakers: Douglas Farah, President, IBI Consultants and Senior Associate, Americas Program — CSIS; Steven Dudley, Co-Director of InSight Crime; Thomas Bruneau, Vice President of Global Academic Professionals; Juan Ricardo Gómez Hecht, Professor and Advisor of Public Security at the College of High Strategic Studies of El Salvador Armed Forces; Juan Carlos Garón, Global Fellow at Woodrow Wilson Center and a researcher for the United Nations Development Program.

This event is sponsored by the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh and by the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh.

Join us at RAND for our “Brown Bag” discussion to be held on November 20th at 12:30 pm at the RAND offices on Fifth Avenue (across from St. Paul Cathedral). Because of security at RAND, please supply the following information when you RSVP: Name, citizenship, affiliation (if other than University of Pittsburgh). Bring a picture ID to this event. Please RSVP on or before November 18th. Thank you—we hope to see you there!

Thomas Sanderson is co-director and senior fellow in the CSIS Transnational Threats Project where he works on terrorism, transnational crime, global trends, Central Asia, and intelligence issues. He has conducted field-work in almost 60 countries and has authored or co-authored 13 major reports as well as opinion pieces and articles in The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, West Point CTC Sentinel, and Harvard Asia-Pacific Review.

Sanderson co-leads a multi-phase CSIS study of emerging trends in terrorism across the so-called “Arc of Instability.” The investigation will cover South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa through 2015. Sanderson also recently co-directed an al-Qaeda futures study and a Central Asia Islamic revival study.

From 2004 to 2009, he designed and directed major studies on non-state threats in Europe and Southeast Asia. Sanderson serves as a course instructor and consultant for the U.S. government and the private sector on terrorism, China, and global threats. From 1998-2002 he served on contracts for the DIA office of counterterrorism, and in the winter of 2005, he completed a fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin. In 2001 Sanderson held a fellowship at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Sanderson holds a B.A. from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and an M.A. from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

This event is cosponsored by the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and the Matthew B. Ridgway Center. The Ridgway Center is part of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and the University Center for International Studies. This event is free and open to all GSPIA students and faculty and the university community.